The First Five Things to Know About: Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5)

PDG B-5 grants help maximize parental choice. While all parents want their young children cared for in a safe and caring environment, they have varied needs and preferences when it comes to basics like cost, location, and hours, as well as more specific criteria like curricula and caregiver qualifications. PDG B-5 grants help states build out choices. For example, Washington leveraged grants to implement Play & Learn Groups to connect with and support families who access child care through family, friend, and neighbor providers. Indiana took steps to engage parents by establishing Family Advisory Councils across the state, gathering feedback to create a more responsive system that better meets the needs of all families, particularly those from underserved populations.

PDG B-5 grants help states collect data, so they can make programs work more effectively and efficiently. Strong data collection allows states to identify what’s working, what’s not, and what to do about it. For example, PDG B-5 allowed Kansas to establish the Kansas Early Childhood Data Trust and create a plan for a data-dashboard to map the specific number of children served across the state agencies. Virginia is currently using PDG B-5 funds to integrate technology platforms and data systems and scale coordinated enrollment platforms across the state.

PDG B-5 grants help states collaborate across multiple programs, systems, and agencies. Within a state, child care and early learning systems may work with different state agencies, nonprofits, or private systems. PDG B-5 allows these systems to coordinate and work more efficiently. For example, Alabama used its grant in part to improve coordination among existing programs across elementary schools, Head Start, state-funded pre-K, and child care. And Maine employed the funds for its First 10 Community Pilots, which link parents of young children to comprehensive services and support smooth transitions for young children entering school by coordinating local public school and early childhood education systems.

PDG B-5 grants help states improve quality and safety across child care programs. High-quality child care has wide-ranging benefits for children socially, emotionally, and academically. PDG B-5 funds helped Oregon expand its “Baby Promise,” a program to improve quality in infant-toddler programs with a focus on rural, frontier, and tribal areas. And Arkansas used part of its grant to offer technical assistance and coaching to family child care providers while improving coaching opportunities for infant and toddler teaching staff.

Continued federal funding for PDG B-5 grants is essential. Forty-nine of the 50 states as well as Washington DC and four territories have benefitted from PDG B-5 funding, which has given them the ability to support the data collection, research, infrastructure development, and quality initiatives that can make their child care and early learning programs operate more effectively. Most states have applied for multiple rounds of funding to continue to meet ongoing needs.